His hand was still raised with the blade held aloft, but it was still for the moment. His eyes became even narrower, and then he said in English, “I was about to ask you the same thing.”
As stunned as I was about the strange and sudden connection I felt with him, I was equally startled to hear him speaking my language. “You—you understand me?”
“Yes,” he replied stiffly. I hoped he would offer further explanation, but he didn’t. He just continued to stand there with his arm above his head and a confused, angry expression on his face.
I realized that, if I didn’t move, we would have just sat there looking at one another forever. Cautiously, I eased my hands back to the ground and pushed myself slowly upwards until I was propped up. I was careful not to make any sudden movements so as not to alarm him. He still didn’t move, so I crept to my feet inch by inch. When I was standing fully again, I bit the inside of my cheek nervously and kept my gaze fixed on him.
Our eyes were still locked together, but something in his expression changed. His mouth softened slightly, and his jaw slackened. If I weren't so terrified of him, I would have actually thought he looked friendly. His arm twitched, and then he lowered the sword to his side.
My breath shot out of me like a gush of water with relief. I felt every nerve inside me relax at once, and the tears which had gathered in my eyes were released. As they spilled down my cheeks, I blubbered gratefully, “Oh my God, thank you so much. Thank you, thank you—”
“What are you?” he asked stonily, interrupting my weeping.
I blinked, completely nonplussed by the question. Tears dripped from my lashes and slid down to my chin, where they gathered in droplets before being flung off as I opened my mouth to answer him. “I-I don’t know what you mean. I’m human if that’s—”
“You are not human,” he interrupted again. This time, he spoke sharply, almost like he was offended. “Humans have no magic.”
For some reason, his statement made me think of Madame Dubreaux. Had she been present, she would have immediately overlooked the fact that he was a weapon-wielding alien and launched into a long rant about skeptics draining the magical energy from the universe. I had never claimed to have magic, though, and I definitely wasn’t about to now.
“I know,” I said weakly. “I don’t have magic.”
He glared at me wordlessly. I began to feel overwhelmingly uncomfortable, and the relieved relaxation I’d experienced when he’d lowered his weapon started to wane. Perhaps he intended to kill me, after all.
“What do you want?” I asked softly. “Why are you here?”
I knew I was taking a risk asking that question, but I figured I might as well. Even though his sword was by his side, he could kill me with it in an instant, if he chose to. I was sure I had no chance of outrunning him to my car by the sheer difference in leg lengths between us, let alone the speed at which I’d seen his fellow aliens sprinting across the desert. Trying to take him on in a one-on-one fight would most likely end in severe, paralyzing injury to me and a slower death than I would have incurred in the first place. I felt like I literally had nothing else to lose.
Again, he just glared at me, and I felt a spark of temper flare in my chest. I wanted him to either let me go or kill me. The anticipation was too much.
“Are you going to do something besides just standing there?” I demanded heatedly.
His eyebrows furrowed together. I noticed his forehead didn’t wrinkle when he did that like a human’s would have, which boggled my mind. He tilted his head again in the way he had before he’d raised his sword at me, and, again, I felt like I was being carefully considered.
Then, without warning, he swept forward. I felt two strong, very warm hands close around my waist. The next thing I knew, I was heaved into the air as easily as if I’d been made of Styrofoam, and then the wind was knocked out of me as I was dropped unceremoniously onto something rock-hard, which slammed into my gut. I realized he’d thrown me over his shoulder when I saw the ground beneath me and the backs of his legs.
“No!” I shrieked, kicking my legs wildly and banging my fists into his back. “Put me down! Put me down!”
One of his hands closed over my calf, and the other gripped my waist so tightly it hurt. I continued to beat him, but I was forced to stop and cling to the waistband of his pants—which seemed to be made of some kind of animal skin—when he bent at the knees without a word. Just as I’d righted myself and was about to let go to resume smacking him and screaming for him to release me, however, wind rushed in my ears, and the dirt below disappeared.
Everything on my body felt like it was being pulled in twenty different directions. The only thing I could hear was wind, and it roared so loudly that it sounded like angry ocean waves crashing onto the shore over and over again. My eyes were forced shut by the very speed at which I was flying. I felt the alien’s shoulder still pressing into my stomach, making me very aware of his presence. I tried to open my mouth and shout with either rage or fear, but I had lost all control of my muscles.
Then, as quickly as it all had started, everything stopped. There was no more wind in my ears, and the sounds of the other A’li-uud had disappeared as well. I could see again, but the only thing in my line of sight was a black, grated metal floor and the glow of blue-green lights. The alien’s shoulder shifted, his hands loosened, and I was dropped to the floor without preface.
I looked around, and I discovered I was on the ship.
7
Duke
Never in my two-hundred and twenty-seven years had I felt something like I felt when I’d looked at the human.
My entire body had gone numb and come alive at the same time. An overwhelming tingling sensation raced up my spine and branched over my skull before plummeting down into the very center of my chest. Small tremors rocketed from every fingertip to my shoulders and trickled down my torso to my groin, and I’d been frozen in place even though all of my muscles seemed to be assaulted by spasms. I was unable to tear my eyes from hers. My very breath was stolen from me as I drowned in her being, swallowed whole by her wide gaze and gripping soul.
It was a magic I had never known.
I had immediately assumed she possessed powers the A’li-uud had never discovered before, but she’d seemed as disconcerted by the seizure of us as I was. If it was the product of potent magic, she clearly had been unaware of her capabilities. In our thousand years of research and observation of her species, however, we had never witnessed any such abilities, and it seemed highly unlikely to me that it was possible humans could have hidden it so well.
I’d taken her and flown on the winds back to the ship. By now, all of my warriors had dispersed. If I’d left her where I’d found her any longer, some of my men would have come upon her and slaughtered her in an instant. I, myself, had been about to when I’d been struck by the unimaginable power. The war chief inside of me insisted I kill her and find the next victim, but I’d been unable to. I had to know what the connection was, what it had meant and how it had happened. So, I’d grabbed her and brought her back to the ship for analysis.
Once we were inside the command center, I dropped her. She looked around frantically, and I could see she’d been dazed by the flight. As far as I knew, humans were only capable of flying inside metal birds they referred to as “airplanes,” and those had measures in place to maintain such comforts as balance and oxygen. After traveling with me, her hair was scattered around her face in a tangled mess, and her cheeks looked rather sunken as she gasped for breath.
Before she could gather her bearings, I darted to the middle of the command center where my chair was mounted and pulled a small, dangling lever from the ceiling. Thick, round bars immediately shot up from the floor so fast they were nothing more than a blur. They clanged as they collided with the ceiling and locked into place. Where there had been nothing but my captain’s chair and open space, there was now a circular floor-to-ceiling cage. The lever had disappeared into the roof and re
appeared near the command center’s window, hanging limply as if it was tired from exertion.
The human’s eyes turned to the cage with trepidation, and she scrambled to her feet.
“Don’t put me in there,” she moaned fearfully. “Please. God, I don’t want to die in here.”
I lunged forward before she could run for the door and seized her by the collar of her shirt. She let out a yelp. Roughly, I tugged her backward, and she fell onto her backside again. Without allowing her to stand once more, I dragged her across the floor to the cage.
“No!” she screamed, slamming her palms against the floor in protest. “Please, no!”
I wrenched open the thin door, which was made of the same bars as the rest of the cage but didn’t reach to the ceiling, and shoved her through. When her feet were clear, I closed the door and heard it lock with a loud, metallic crack. She immediately jumped up and grabbed two of the bars, yanking and shoving on them as hard as she could. They didn’t move. Her cries were no longer intelligible words but just miserable, pleading wails as she tried with all her might to free herself from the cage to no avail.
“Quiet!” I hissed, banging the heel of my hand against one of the bars. “Do you want my warriors to hear you?”
“Let me go!” she shrieked. She was crying now, the kind of crying Tabitha had done. Tears streaked her face and left shiny lines in their wake. “Let me go!”
“If you are heard, you will be killed. My warriors have their orders, and I will not stop them,” I told her in a low growl.
Finally, she silenced, looking at me through the bars with watery eyes and trembling lips. She seemed to be weakened by her outburst, as her knees quaked like they were on the verge of giving out. Her hands fell uselessly to her sides. Then, she dropped to the ground with a dull clatter and leaned her forehead against the cage, weeping softly.
I turned my back to her and moved to the navigation station that Takro had manned during our journey. The bead that would allow me to communicate with the other ships in the fleet lay on the flat surface, and I plucked it up. Placing it into my ear, I closed my eyes as I listened for any A’li-uud voice. I heard none. Either all of the ships had landed and the crews disembarked, or we had lost contact due to distance.
Leaving the bead in my ear, I strode over to the massive window and peered out. The desert landscape was barren now, and I couldn’t see a single warrior. There were tracks in the sand where they had stepped, but, other than that, there wasn’t a sign they had been there at all. I wrinkled my nose in disgust as I took in the grungy colors of the rocky horizon and dead appearance of the foliage around. It was a horrendous place, a poor imitation of Albaterra. I couldn’t imagine why any A’li-uud would want to colonize this planet.
The human’s sobs had ebbed to mere sniffles, and I heard her moving within the cage. I didn’t turn around. My eyes were fixed on the outdoors for any sign of trouble or returning warriors. For some reason, I found myself hoping none would come back to the ship. I didn’t want them to find her.
“What do you want with me?”
Her song-like voice floated to my ears like a sweet melody, and I had to resist the urge to answer. What I had felt earlier had left me shaken, and I needed to find out what it was before engaging with her. Nevertheless, my good judgment was tested as she tried again.
“Are you one of the A’li-uud?” she asked with another sniffle.
Again, I didn’t acknowledge her, but I felt like I was being pulled against a current. I gritted my teeth to prevent myself from responding. Irritation was beginning to stir within me, irritation with myself for being so inexplicably drawn to her.
“Can I at least have some water?” she murmured miserably.
Finally unable to hold back, I whirled around. In one stride, I crossed the space between the window and the cage, and I grabbed her wrist through the bars. She squeaked in surprise, but I didn’t let go.
“What is your name?” I demanded. I was disproportionately angry, given the situation, but I could no longer control my emotions. The connection I’d felt with her when I’d found her had frightened me, and it infuriated me that I should be frightened by anything having to do with this inferior being. Thus, my tone was enraged, and my actions were aggressive.
“Emily Milton!” she answered at once.
I felt her trying to pull her wrist out of my grasp, but I was significantly stronger than her, and she didn’t succeed. “What do you know about me?”
“What?” Her eyes were so wide I felt like I could have jumped into them and been swallowed up. “I don’t know anything about you! I just met you!”
“What do you know about my race?” I clarified in a hiss.
She shook her head and glanced down at the floor. “I only know what the news says,” she replied in a girlish voice. “You’re called A’li-uud, and you live in a different galaxy. I don’t remember the name of your planet…Al—”
“Albaterra,” I snapped. “What else?”
“I don’t know.” She continued looking at the floor for a moment before she lifted her eyes and stared at me through her long, elegant lashes. “I heard you bombed one of our ships and kept the crew as prisoners.”
I released her wrist roughly. “It was not me personally, though I was part of the vote.”
“Vote?” she repeated. “You have a democracy?”
“Not exactly,” I said vaguely, still speaking to her with unnecessary harshness. I turned around again and started to walk away. It felt like she had grabbed me by my spine and was pulling me back toward her, but I was untouched—the connection was simply that powerful.
She didn’t speak again right away, but her voice finally rose through the silence again. “I heard an A’li-uud fell in love with a human. They say she’s still there,” she said timidly. I stopped walking as I heard her, and she added, “Is that true?”
I closed my eyes. I suddenly felt as though I was vibrating from head to toe, and the words “fell in love” raced through my mind over and over. My breath caught in my throat. I realized with hot, numbing horror that the strange connection I had with her might not have been the result of mysterious magic after all.
“Yes,” I replied hoarsely. “It is true.”
My vision began to spin, and my fingers started to twitch. I was filled with a gripping sense of foreboding and disbelief, but I also felt like I was lighter than air. Of everything I had imagined when I’d decided to join my warriors on the mission, it had never occurred to me that I would fall to the same fate as Rex did months ago. It didn’t seem possible that I could have fallen in love with a human within only a moment. I had never even fallen in love with an A’li-uud over any length of time—though I’d certainly had my affections for some.
I shook my head violently, not caring if she noticed. Surely, it was the stress of the journey and the unexpected encounter with the humans in space that had me so discombobulated. After all, I was capable of many things, but falling in love with a human couldn’t possibly be one of them.
“What’s your name?” Emily asked, jarring me from my frantic musings.
Trying to remain as cold and distant as possible, I ignored her question and went to the window once more. There were still no signs of my warriors or other humans, which offered me a hint of relief. I discreetly leaned my forehead against the glass and reveled in its coolness against my skin. Never before had I felt so uncomfortable about something so seemingly harmless. Then again, the notion of falling in love with a human was anything but harmless. Just recalling what happened with Rex was proof of that. From the time he’d started developing feelings for Tabitha, he’d been put on trial for treason, escaped an attempt on his life, and essentially been the catalyst for a war that otherwise might never have happened.
I refused to make the same mistakes.
Ripping into my thoughts again, Emily called from her cage, “May I please have something to drink?”
I had forgotten she’d asked for water, and I
immediately strode out of the room. She whimpered as I left, most likely because she assumed I was just leaving her, but I returned a moment later with a thin cylinder. It had a lid attached to the top so tightly it was sealed without any give, and there was a small tab protruding from one side of it. I pushed the tab in a clockwise motion. A circle suddenly opened up on the edge of the lid, and I heard water sloshing around inside the cylinder as I extended it through the bars to her.
She took it and stared at it with confusion.
“Drink from there,” I ordered, pointing to the circle.
She wrapped her lips around the end, engulfing the circle in her mouth, and tilted her head back with the cylinder above her. Her eyes closed, and I heard water dribbling through the opening. When she’d had enough, she snapped her head forward again and looked down at the container.
“It’s like a water bottle,” she said to herself.
I didn’t bother to ask her what a water bottle was, nor did I request the container from her. Before I could walk back to the window, however, she turned her eyes up to me and asked, “Are you going to kill me?”
Part of me wanted to answer no, but I was still too deep in my thoughts about Rex and the connection I’d felt with Emily to permit such a foolish response, so I kept my mouth closed. Her eyes filled with tears again.
“Please just let me go,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “I don’t want to die.”
“You are not going to die,” I said involuntarily. The words spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them.
Hope flowered across her lovely features. “You’re not going to kill me?”
“No.” If I could have, I would’ve shoved my fist down my throat to keep myself from speaking, but I seemed to be unable to restrain myself from comforting her—though I still spoke coarsely. “We came here with a job to do, and I may need you.”
It was the truth, but there was something much deeper and much more profound behind my reasoning. I needed to find out what the connection was between us, and I wasn’t going to let her go or do away with her before that happened.
Duke: A Paranormal Scifi Alien Romance: Albaterra Mates Book 2 Page 5
